Frequently Asked Questions for Corinthian College Students

On April 27, 2015, Corinthian Colleges, Inc. announced that they were immediately ceasing operations and instruction at their remaining 30 locations across the country. If you were attending any of these closed schools on April 27, 2015, or withdrew from these schools on or after June 20, 2014, you have two options:

  1. Apply for a Closed School Loan Discharge.
  2. Transfer earned school credit to another institution to continue your education in a comparable program.

Additionally, the implementation of Assembly Bill No. 1346 allows for an expansion of the definition of economic loss and the eligibility parameters for former California Corinthian Colleges, Inc. students. If you were a California resident and were enrolled at a Corinthian College (Heald, Everest, or WyoTech) on or after January 1, 2010, you may also be eligible to receive a reimbursement from the Student Tuition Recovery Fund.

The Office of Student Assistance and Relief (OSAR) can help you address any questions you may have regarding your situation. Please direct any questions for the OSAR to 1 (888) 370-7589, Option #5 or email us at osar@dca.ca.gov.

Here is a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from students who attended Corinthian Colleges (Heald, Wyotech, Everest):

If your school closed, you may be eligible to discharge your federal student loans by filing a Closed School Loan Discharge Application with your student loan servicer.

  1. Verify to see if you have received a Closed School Loan Discharge Application from your federal loan servicer. Follow the instructions on the application.
  2. If you haven’t received an application, you can complete this Closed School Loan Discharge Application and send it to the mailing address of your loan servicer.
  3. If you are unsure of which provider is servicing your federal student loans, visit the Federal Student Aid’s website or call 1 (800) 433-3243 to learn more about the process for getting your federal student loans discharged.

All completed Closed School Loan Discharge Applications must be sent to your loan servicer. To find out who your loan servicer is, log in to My Federal Student Aid or call 1 (800) 433-3243.

Most private student loans are contracted under a loan agreement between the lender and the student. Please read the loan disclosures carefully. Contact your private student loan servicer to request for more information about a closed school discharge. You can also contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at 1 (855) 411-2372 for more information regarding your options.

If your loan discharge request or application was denied, make copies of the denial letter and submit it along with a completed Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the following address:

Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

To request for an update regarding your federal loan discharge application, you may contact your loan servicer directly or call Federal Student Aid at 1 (800) 433-3243.

If your student loans are being serviced by a nonfederal private lender, contact your lender directly and request for an update.

If your student loan discharge application was denied, make copies of the denial letter and submit it along with a completed Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the following address:

Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

If you received a partial loan discharge from your student loan servicer, you may be eligible to receive a supplemental reimbursement from the Student Tuition Recovery Fund. Please make copies of the partial loan discharge letter and all current loan documents. Submit this information along with a completed Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the following address:

Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

The federal Borrower Defense to Repayment discharge program exists to help students who have graduated or completed their programs from their institutions, so are not eligible for a Closed School discharge, but believe that they may be eligible to receive loan forgiveness of their federal student loans due to fraud. It’s important to know that you still are responsible for repaying your student loans taken out to finance your education at your closed school. However, students—who attended a school and believe they were defrauded or that their school otherwise violated applicable law—may be eligible for a type of loan forgiveness called “borrower defense to repayment” (or “borrower defense”). For more information, you may visit the Borrower Defense to Repayment website or call the hotline at 1 (855) 279-6207.

All completed Borrower Defense to Repayment applications must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education by email to BorrowerDefense@ed.gov or by mail to the following address:

U.S. Department of Education
PO Box 1854
Monticello, KY 42633

The Office of Student Assistance and Relief is aware that many former students who were enrolled at a Corinthian Colleges institution are included in cases like Manriquez v. DeVos and Sweet v. DeVos regarding their long-pending Borrower Defense to Repayment Applications. More information regarding these cases, as well as the steps that Federal Student Aid plans to take for these students, can be found on their website.

The Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund (STRF) exists to relieve or mitigate economic losses suffered by California students in an educational program at a qualifying institution.

Per California Education Code section 94923(h), students must file a written application to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education no later than four years after the date of the action that made the student eligible for recovery. Former California Corinthian Colleges, Inc. students eligible under the implementation of Assembly Bill No. 1346 have until January 1, 2024 to apply for economic relief from the STRF.

We encourage all students to submit copies of student payment ledgers and/or receipts provided by their school(s) to serve as evidence to support that an economic loss was suffered due to the school closure.

If you are unable to locate copies of your student payment ledger and/or receipts provided by your school, we encourage students to review their previous bank statements, loan documents, and emails for digital copies of receipts and transactions. If you are still unable to find proof of the economic loss, contact our office at 1 (888) 370-7589, option #5 or email us at osar@dca.ca.gov, so we may explore other options.

The Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (Bureau) can process most transcript requests submitted by former Corinthian Colleges students. Students seeking transcripts should submit a Transcript Request Form to the Bureau at bppe.transcripts@dca.ca.gov or by mail to the following address:

Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

Eligible third-party funds are converted to educational credits that can be used towards tuition at a subsequent qualified college or institution. To find out if you’re eligible to receive educational credits, please complete an Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund and submit supplemental documentation with proof of all awarded third-party funds to the following address:

Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

If the educational institution that you transferred to did not accept all your credits, you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for the credits that were not transferred. Please make copies of the documentation showing how many credits were accepted for transfer and submit this information along with your completed Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the following address:

Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

If you made any out-of-pocket payments (cash, check, credit card, etc.) to your school, you may be eligible to receive a reimbursement from the Student Tuition Recovery Fund. Please make copies of the receipts and/or documentation to verify the payments you made to the institution. Submit the copies of your receipts along with a completed Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the following address:

Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
P.O. Box 980818
West Sacramento, CA 95798-0818

To request for a status update regarding your Application for Student Tuition Recovery Fund, you may contact our office at 1 (888) 370-7589, option #5 or send a email requesting for a status update at osar@dca.ca.gov.

The Office of Student Assistance and Relief (OSAR) is available to assist you with any additional questions that you may have. Please direct any questions for the OSAR to 1 (888) 370-7589, option #5 or email us at osar@dca.ca.gov.

Students are encouraged to monitor OSAR’s website along with its Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages regularly for up-to-date information on the resources available to students following their school’s closure.